I put up some comic relief on FB this morning, because sometimes you need comedy to get you through what the world throws at us. But I also want to take a moment to reflect on the violence in the news. I’m deeply saddened by all of these unacceptable things that happened this week:
– the shootings at the GOP baseball practice this morning
– the loss of life and injuries at the apartment fire in London
– the 43 people shot and 6 killed in Chicago this weekend
– the wave of Ramadan violence perpetrated by Da’esh this week in Muslim countries
– continued deadly attacks in Afghanistan this week
– threats of violence forcing the cancellation of Lebanon’s first gay pride parade
– spreading religious violence in Myanmar
– and 100s more, just in the last 7 days
 
How many of these did you know about? How many did you think about? Do something about (including fb posts…)? Encourage your elected representatives to do something about?
 
There’s a great big world out there, and our mainstream news typically only tells us about the bad cover stories that they think we will care about. Are those important? Absolutely. But try digging deeper.
 
Don’t just post about how bad you feel about the violence at the Congressional baseball practice, do something about gun violence in Chicago. Don’t assume we’re the only ones facing terrorism, most people have it much worse. And don’t assume that putting up a wall, or isolating ourselves, or spending more on high tech weapons, or worse yet imprisoning a bunch of people b/c of their religion, will stop anything.
 
Get informed. Inform others. Get active.